1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a method and a device for the coding of workpiece carriers in production plants, in particular for the assembly of workpieces comprising several separate parts, in which the workpiece carriers are fed along conveying tracks to different successive operating or processing stations in which separate parts are added or fitted to or processed and wherein an error signal is allocated to a workpiece carrier receiving such workpieces in case of faulty assembling or processing so that these workpieces are no longer processed in the following working or processing stations but are supplied to a delivery point for scrap parts or for further processing.
2. Description of Prior Art
Different coding devices for workpiece carriers in production plants are already known. Devices of this kind commonly comprise signal carriers arranged on the workpiece carrier, e.g. pivotable or displaceable pins or bolts or the like. These signal carriers are frequently utilised only so that when the workpiece is processed defectively on a workpiece carrier, the same may be tagged as a scrap or waste workpiece. This is accomplished by displacing the signal carriers from the so-called good position into the scrap or waste position by means of displacing means situated in the individual working or processing stations. Coding devices of this nature are occasionally also utilised for coding devised to perform different individual working operations on the workpieces of the workpiece carriers. These systems are not applicable in all cases however, since the displaceable parts require constant maintenance and the investment and space required for such devices is great, and since the further processing of the data obtained, especially by means of electronic control means, involves a substantial expenditure.